Microsoft announces its second European wind project

Microsoft today announced its second European wind project in the Netherlands. Microsoft is planning to purchase 100 percent of the 180-megawatt wind energy generated from the wind farm and it will be constructed and operated by Vattenfall, one of Europe’s largest electricity producers.

Microsoft’s Netherlands datacenter serves as a regional hub to deliver Microsoft’s Cloud services to customers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Since the wind farm will be located near to Microsoft’s Netherlands datacenter, the energy generated from these turbines will be used to directly power the datacenter. Microsoft mentioned that production and consumption of renewable energy so closely unlocks great efficiencies.

“Investing in local clean energy to power our local datacenter is a win-win for our business and the Netherlands,” said Brian Janous, general manager of energy at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to bringing new renewable energy sources online to power our datacenters. By focusing on local projects, we’re able to create new economic opportunities, reduce carbon emissions and make progress on our global commitment to increase the amount of clean energy used to power the Microsoft Cloud.”

Microsoft already has a partnership with Vattenfall. Vattenfall is using Microsoft Azure and other cloud services to digitally transform its business operations, including renewable energy operations. It is using advanced analytics powered by Azure for Vattenfall Wind.